Latest AMD Driver Adds Support For 'Civilization VI,' Fixes Graphical Corruption In 'Titanfall 2'

From a technical point of view, I've also been puzzled by the "support for" update descriptions. (I don't want this to be judgment on either Civ 6 or AMD.) Surely the game developer has been running for a while, testing, providing feedback when necessary, perhaps getting non-public releases to test. Do new games use the API in such a different way? If it's optimizing the engine, might it break other things? If it's game specific optimization, instead of baking it into the driver, shouldn't it be data-driven via a game developer supplied config? (I realize that's not easy. I'm a software architect, I've maintained APIs before, doing it right is really hard.) From a high level system and process point of view, the extra effort of getting Civ6 to run well should be placed on those that want to run it. I just want my video editing to work well, so I don't want to download a new driver to hard code improvements just for Civ6.

A fair answer would be that "support for Civ6" means fixing a bug or performance issue that no one else has run in to before, and most people don't want to hear the detailed answer.. but that still leaves the question why it wasn't already fixed in the driver when Civ6 was being developed and tested.

As a specific item, if it's an SLI profile, it seems to me as an engineer that the sli profile should come with the game and not require a new driver. If it's coming from AMD, then millions of people who never run Civ6 are downloading and installing data specific to it. That seems sub-optimal.

18884241 said:

AMD drivers are such a garbage. None of these issues i have with Nvidia 1080. Everything is like console like experience in a sense, just f. works.

AMD has better driver support than Nvidia at the moment.

https://www.techpowerup.com/227881/users-report-multiple-issues-with-geforce-375-86-whql-drivers

@FREAK777POWER i bet all the amd user didn't have that 810mhz memory clock bug that many of your folks are experiencing.Lets sum it for you

Windows 10 Open Issues
Game crashes pointing to
ntdll.dll when changed to full-screen and to windowed full-screen. Severe flickering and a trailing mouse pointer seen in the
game on the Ansel UI when the application is launched with SLI enabled. For Honor silently crashes if intro video is skipped and instant
replay is on. Level loading hangs in Gears of War 4. The graphics card is not detected
upon installing the driver. Driver install/overinstall requires reboot. Installer prompts for reboot during express overinstall of 372.69 driver on
372.54. Quantum Break window either remains blank or freezes in game scene in
windowed mode. Assassins Creed – Syndicate shows intermittent flickering black or white patches on
game character faces. Surround Display icon disappears after rotate mode set to portrait. Street Fighter V performance drop (pause and play) observed when the game is
played at 4K resolution with SLI enabled. Display driver stopped responding while running benchmark LuxBall
HDR (Simple Bechmark:217K triangles). Blank screen observed on an ASUS Tiled display when system
resumes from shutdown or hibernation with Fast boot option enabled from BIOS.

Windows 8.1 Open Issues
While a stereoscopic 3D video with stereoscopic 3D enabled is played, the
monitor refresh rate switches to 60 Hz after changing the resolution using the
Windows control panel.
NVIDIA SHIELD TV Has Now Transformed Into Your Very Own Media Server
Windows 8 Open Issues
The NVIDIA Control Panel video color settings have no effect on
YouTube flash video playback within Internet Explorer 10.
Windows 7 Open Issues
Street Fighter V performance drop (pause and play) observed when the game is
played at 4K resolution with SLI enabled. While a stereoscopic 3D video with stereoscopic 3D enabled is played, the
monitor refresh rate switches to 60 Hz after changing the resolution using the
Windows control panel.


This are all the issues that Nvidia is currently facing .So your argument is invalid.

Yeah I find it a little biased that you post all the known issues still present and not the list of bug fixes and yet you do not post the same for Nvidia. Actually i just went back and checked the last 4 driver update articles for AMD and Nvidia driver updates and you always post the issues remaining with AMD and not for Nvidia, thats beyond biased thats disgraceful

@MICHAELZEHR - I agree with your assessment; however the optimal solution will never occur because AMD and Nvida are competing with each other. If one or the other doesn't jump on a way to make their drivers seem "better" at running a game then they risk losing market share. Driver bloat and the risk of introducing new bugs in the process are just part of the cost of doing business. Perhaps this is why driver download size can rival the download of the games themselves. Perhaps, the logic of engineering, regardless of optimization, doesn't always apply well to business situations.

18903539 said:

... Perhaps, the logic of engineering, regardless of optimization, doesn't always apply well to business situations.

You're probably right... thanks for adding in your perspective. I admit I was thinking like an engineer, not like a marketing person.